Please contact Rose Branstrom (rbranstr@umich.edu) with any items that should be included in next month's M-LEEaD newsletter
The 2022 NIEHS Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Core Centers in-person meeting was hosted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai this past July, with stellar attendance from centers across the country. Climate change and health, translational toxicology, and environmental justice and health inequities represent important areas of scientific focus at NIEHS and were explored during the three-day meeting.
For a detailed account of the event, including highlights from the keynote addresses, please see the Mt. Sinai EHSCC Website here.
The Center Scientist position, offered through M-LEEaD's Career Development Program led by Gil Omenn and Justin Colacino, provides special mentorship experiences to an early stage investigator and selected candidates engage in research that addresses the goals of the M-LEEaD Center to define, explain, or mitigate impacts of environmental exposures during vulnerable stages of life. We are pleased to announce the 2022-2023 Center Scientists!
Rebekah Lee Petroff (Bek) serves as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Drs. Jackie Goodrich and Dana Dolinoy, having received her PhD in 2020 from the University of Washington, WA, USA. Her research uses data-intensive methods to understand the neurological and epigenetic effects of early life exposures to common environmental contaminants in both animal models and epidemiological cohorts. As an M-LEEaD Center Scientist, her research will focus on two key translational topics: the developmental epigenetic effects of domoic acid, and the translational, cross-species, environmental epigenetic effects from developmental toxicant exposure.
Soundara Viveka Thangaraj (Viveka) is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Vasantha Padmanabhan in the Department of Pediatric-Endocrinology, having received her PhD in 2021 from the Cancer Institute, University of Madras, India. Her research centers around the developmental programming effects of pre-natal exposure to environmental chemicals, on long-term metabolic health of the offspring. As an M-LEEaD Center Scientist she will be using state of the art omic approaches to investigate the biosolid-exposure induced alterations in the maternal metabolome that could contribute to phenotypic outcomes in the offspring.
With growing concern over climate change's health impacts on children and rising cases of asthma in children, community members and parents say children face significant barriers in getting effective treatment for asthma in Detroit. Air quality in Detroit — specifically in areas with higher poverty rates — has also raised concerns over persistent asthma among children. Read the full news story here.
Experts are warning about the harm that spraying yards for bugs can bring to the ecosystem. This story in the NEWSY blog reports on the potential downside to large yard-wide treatments. "If you're using a toxic chemical that's toxic to certain types of species like insects, you might expect to see some collateral damage," said John Meeker, an environmental health sciences professor at University of Michigan. Read the entire post here.
The recent release of highly toxic hexavalent chromium into the Wixom Sewage Treatment facility, sparking warnings and restrictions along the Huron River, has brought additional attention to PFAS contamination. "PFAS is everywhere. There is no way to completely avoid PFAS exposure," said University of Michigan's Sung Kyun Park, a professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health. “It is important for clinicians to be aware of PFAS as an unrecognized risk factor for diabetes and to be prepared to counsel patients in terms of sources of exposure and potential health effects." Watch the interview featuring Dr. Park at this link.
Living near refineries, manufacturing plants, railways and highways like those in and around Detroit increase a person's exposure to air pollutants, said Stuart Batterman, a University of Michigan public and environmental health professor.
Read the full article here.
In this Click on Detroit story, Dana Dolinoy says “We’re evaluating environmental exposures and different intermediate health outcomes with the idea to protect individuals from cancer.” U of M’s Rogel Cancer Center and the school of public health are currently recruiting 100,000 men and women between the ages of 25 and 44 to participate remotely, with some mailing in test kits to the lab for the large study. Read the article here.
Effective communication strategies can build bridges between scientific research and health-protective policies. PEPH Network featured a piece created by collaboration between Wayne State, University of Michigan, and Texas A&M University that gives tips and guidelines that scientists funded by federal grants need to consider when communicating their environmental health research to public officials. Read the piece here.
The Midwest is getting hotter. Detroiters may experience as many as 65 days per summer with temperatures over 90° by the end of the century, a big increase over the current average of 13 days per summer. This new CEC factsheet (also available in Spanish and Arabic) details how extreme heat can impact children's health, and tips to keep kids safe. Translated versions in Spanish and Arabic are now also available on the M-LEEaD website for "Climate Change, Extreme Heat and Health."
9/13/2022 IHSC Webinar 12-12:50 pm EST on Zoom Introducing M-LEEaD: What is the Michigan Center on Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease and what can it do for me?
Registration Required here
Recordings of the panels will be posted to the M-LEEaD YouTube Channel
